12 August 2023 – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

Most of us have gone to do our duty as citizens and as voters, to ensure that we do our responsibility well for the nation and for the state. But I am not sure what were your experiences like when you went to the polling stations. Some will just go and enjoy the excitement. Some go with fear. Some just go for the sake of doing because it is your responsibility. And I am not sure what kind of emotions were around you when you went to vote today.

As I reflected on my own experience and the recent experiences that I had watching the World Youth Day in Portugal, Lisbon, there are so many areas of my own journey of life came to mind. And one of the experiences of the World Youth Day that the Pope mentioned to the young people was when they had finished this whole experience of the World Youth Day and when they go back and when they resume their life, what are they going to do?

And that question, dear friends, is a question that each and every one of us need to ponder. We come to experience God each and every day of our lives and perhaps we have gone through so many formations, sessions to grow in connection, to grow in a deeper relationship with God but after that what is next?

And to answer that question, the Pope gave three things:-
1.  First is to listen. To listen to the voice of God in their lives and to see where is God leading them.
2. The second thing is do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of the circumstances and the situations that they are confronted with or they will be facing.
3. And the other is the aspect of shining their life through the Gospel.

And these three things, dear friends, as we look at today’s reading, brings us to a deeper realisation of how we need to shine, how we need to listen, how we ought to be not be afraid. Because in our journey of life, dear friends, these three aspects are very, very real. We need to shine our life through the Gospel because God has allowed us these experiences of life that we are able to share. This Good News the Lord wants to make us be the testimony of His love: to listen to the voice of God’s promptings in our hearts and to not be afraid, to be courageous to where He is leading us.

If you look at today’s First Reading from the book of Kings, we see the Prophet Elijah moving towards the Mount of Horeb because he was running away from Jezebel who was wanting to kill him. And he was running towards the Mount Horeb as a successful Prophet because among all the prophets of Ba’al, they were not able to lit the fire. But because of Elijah’s faith, God answered his prayers to allow the fire to consume what was prepared. And because of his faithfulness to listen to the voice of God, he had to face those challenges because his life was in danger. So he ran, he ran and ran up to the mountain to hid himself in the cave.

And as we look at the life of Elijah, dear friends, we also can look at our own journey of life in how sometimes we move away. We hide from confronting the situations of life. We want to move away from the situations that perhaps will be difficult for us to endure. And perhaps we are running away to find different, different, experiences of God, to find the assurance, to find that comfort of where He is leading us.

But we see in the First Reading that as he went up to the mountain and hid himself in the cave, we see God was not present in the wind, God was not present in the earthquake, God was not present in the fire but He was present in the simple breeze that touched the heart of Elijah. And after listening to that gentle voice, he goes out of the cave to confront or to face the challenges that he was to endure.

And we see, dear friends, in this situation where he moves out from a situation of chaos but God was always present in each and every moment. And very often we find ourselves wanting to look for God in many, many, many different areas, looking from one magnificent experiences of God to another experience of God. But what Elijah is inviting us, dear friends, is to listen to that voice in our hearts because the Lord is speaking in our hearts for us to realise and for us to take that step forward like Elijah.

If you take a look at the Gospel as well today, we see yet another chaos. A chaos where there are storms, it is at night and the disciples were confused, not knowing what to do. But in that circumstances and that situations of life and because of the headwind that was there in the lake, we see the disciples were frightened, they were fearful because they were trying to manage the situation all by themselves.

And I am sure, dear friends, in our journey of life, we would have come to experience so many people who are confronted with experiences of life like the disciples where they are not sure what to do, they panic, they get disillusioned and they get frustrated. But we see how the Lord reaches out to them. Jesus goes to pray to the mountain but when they were in a situation of chaos in the storm, we see how the Lord comes close to them, in the boat. And when we are confronted with situations of life like this, dear friends, because I am sure each and every one of us go through this kind of situations in our life in one way or the other. But we see the closeness of Jesus with his disciples. He was going up to the mountain but here they were having chaos.

And He tells us one thing, dear friends, when we are confronted with situations that is difficult, we need to turn to the Lord to pray.  And when we turn to the Lord to pray, that assurance, that comfort, that assurance of life that God gives us, gives us a glimmer of hope to find our strength, to find our joy, to find our comfort in God once again.

And we need to be reminded that the best thing sometimes that we can do when people are going through challenging and difficult moments is to pray for them. And in doing so like Jesus who comes close to the boat, they get comforted. And sometimes as you see the disciples today, they are afraid and they thought that Jesus was a ghost. Because the way that they see Jesus is very different from the way Jesus sees them.

As we look at our own journey, dear friends, very often we square ourselves in the way of how we see the experiences of life. We see how confrontations and dispute that happens in our lives makes us realise that perhaps God is distant, God is absent. But these two stories, the First Reading and the Gospel today tells us that God is not absent. God is very, very close in those moments and challenges of life that we go through. And all the more in the Gospel too we see Jesus reaching out to Peter and lifting him up from being sunk.

These experiences of the Gospel and the First Reading of today, dear friends, is an invitation for us to look at these moments of hope, to look at these moments of joy that the Lord restores our hope once again to where He wants us to be. Because our plans for ourselves is far, far different than what God wants of us. The plan that God has for us is far, far greater than the plan we have for ourselves. And for that we need to allow the Gospel to shine in and through our lives. Because when we are able to bring the values of the Gospel in our lives, we shine with God; only if we listen to the promptings of Jesus in our hearts, to seek His discernment, to seek where He is leading us and guiding us and He assures us of His comfort, of His presence.

And like the disciples, we too are called to be courageous and to be not be afraid. And when we are encouraged, when we have the courage to take the step forward, dear friends, we must also be reminded that courage is not an absence of fear. Because we think that when we are courageous, we don’t have any fear.  But being courageous means that even I am going through the challenges and obstacles of life, I know that God will lead me and see me through even amidst those challenges and difficulties of life.

And with that, the Lord invites us. The Lord invites us to take that step forward like Peter, to fix our gaze on Him and to take that step forward in faith. Are we willing to take that step forward like Peter and to keep our gaze on Him?

And Jesus comes in the storms of our lives, in the boats that we are in, the boats of our lives and He is asking us to take that step forward, to be courageous and to not be afraid. Are we willing to take that step forward like Peter, to go towards Jesus?

And for that, we need to shine for Jesus, we need to listen and we need not allow our fear to cloud our minds but to take that step forward with courage because Jesus says: “Do not be afraid.”

And as we take this step in this journey this whole week, dear friends, let us find time, let us find time to reflect on those moments where we have been graced by God. Moments of comfort that God has blessed us with, where God has liberated us from the storms of our lives, to listen to that prompting and the stillness of voice, of God speaking to us in our hearts.

And like Elijah, are we willing to go out in front of the cave and to see for ourselves where God is leading us amidst whatever circumstance and challenges of life that we go through, listening to that voice, knowing, acknowledging that God is together with us and taking that step forward like Elijah, like Peter because God’s plan and God’s vision for us is far greater than we have for us?

For this grace and for this courage to not be afraid, we pray.

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